Uprising
by peacefulsands
Summary: Jensen and Cougar have been captured and things are about to get even worse.  Contains violence and bad language - rated M to be sure.


**Title** : Uprising

**Fandom** : The Losers

**Characters** : Mainly Jensen and Cougar and some miscellaneous bad guys

**Word Count** : approx. 3400

**Rating** : somewhere between PG-13 and 15 – swearing and violence.

**Disclaimer** : All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Author's notes** : This fic was written for a friend who wanted some whump and so I went looking for a prompt that would help. I found the prompt of "Uprising" by Muse at song_prompt

Special thanks to the group of friends who looked it over and offered advice – your help is much appreciated.

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><p><strong>Uprising<strong>

Cougar sat quietly in the corner of the room, conserving his energy and contemplating the reality of what lay before them. His eyes tracked Jensen's movements back and forth, wishing he could do something to get Jensen out of here.

There was an unnatural awkwardness to his pacing. Cougar could see the slight tightness to each step; he was favoring one side. Cougar kept his sigh shallow and light, not wanting the stress on his own sore ribs to increase or to draw Jensen's attention to it. He had no idea what had gone wrong, how he and Jensen had both been made, but at least at the last they'd heard the others were still free and knew they'd been captured.

He'd seen as the guards had caught Jensen, appearing suddenly as if they'd been lying in wait, knowing somehow that Jensen had been coming. It didn't make sense and for the moment, it was too much to consider. He brought a hand up to his head and massaged at his temple, closing his eyes in the hope some of the pressure would disperse.

His eyes snapped open again when he realized Jensen's pacing had stopped. He jerked backward at the sight of Jensen kneeling before him. He knocked his back against the wall and let out a shocked gasp. "Shit, Coug! Careful. Where are you hurt that you haven't told me? You said you were alright!" Jensen's voice was low and worried.

"'s nothing. Just a few bruises. You?" Cougar looked at him intently, glaring when Jensen started to prevaricate before finally admitting to having a few bruises of his own. 'A few well placed kicks' did nothing to really reassure Cougar about the extent of his team-mate's injuries.

The sound of footsteps approaching down the corridor had Jensen moving away, keeping his distance and standing almost nonchalantly in the opposite corner. The door opened and two guards entered. Another two framed the doorway.

"You! Out now!" the most thuggish of the guards snapped at Jensen with a finger pointing to the door.

"Who me?" Jensen asked airly. "See that's just not a courteous way to address someone . . . it's no incentive to anyone to accede to your wishes. A civilized person would be far more polite and genteel about extending such an invitation to step out of the room." Cougar saw the look of confusion on the guard's face as he attempted to piece together what Jensen was saying. "I really think it's time you improved your vocabulary as well, you asinine boor with the intelligence of a partula snail who's gone hunting for decomposing detritus in a city center." The guard blinked clearly baffled by the rant.

"You insulting me?" he snarled. Cougar could barely conceal his grin at the thought the man wasn't sure that was what was happening.

"Doh!" Jensen replied, crossing his eyes. "Maybe."

The grin vanished from Cougar's thoughts as he saw the man loom closer to Jensen, clearly preparing himself to lash out. Cougar winced as the man's fist shot out surprisingly swift for a man of his size and connected with Jensen's jaw sending him staggering backwards. "Ow!" Jensen said afterwards through a rapidly swelling split lip, blood already blooming and beginning to dribble on to his chin. He wiped his hand across his face grimly and turned his attention back to the guard. "That wasn't nice! Just because you lack the intelligence of a pile of shit, there's no need to be an asshole to the rest of the world. It wasn't our fault your momma made out with a yak!"

The guard grabbed hold of Jensen and started to haul him towards the door. His companion fell in alongside, kicking Jensen's leg out from under him so he stumbled long enough for the second guard to grab one of his arms and twist it up his back, shoving him forward forcefully. Cougar saw as they deliberately bounced Jensen off the doorframe and then into the far wall of the corridor before they turned and headed down the corridor, leaving the remaining guards to shut and lock the door again before following them.

Cougar was left alone to worry about what was being done to Jensen along with what had happened to the rest of the team. It was then he noticed the glint of a comms device in the corner of the room where Jensen had been standing.

Cautiously he moved across to pick it up, slipping it into his ear and activating it, praying that this was what Jensen had intended and that he had a plan, a better plan than letting himself get beaten up, just to give Clay, Roque and Pooch time to get to them.

He listened for a moment and heard nothing, then tentatively murmured, "Anyone there?"

There was a pause for a moment, then Clay's voice replied, "Yes! That you? Stupid question, course it is. Are the two of you together? Are you okay? Can you get out?"

"We were, but he's been taken by the guards . . . Interrogation most likely."

"What state are the two of you in? Injuries, report!"

Cougar sighed, "Both still mobile at last count. Some injuries though."

With instructions to try and keep out of trouble and the promise that they were doing all they could to get him and Jensen out, Clay cut the connection and Cougar was left with nothing to do but wait and worry.

* * *

><p>It felt like hours before Cougar heard anything beyond the sound of his own breathing. The silence was finally broken by footsteps and the sound of something being dragged. He knew that something would be Jensen and he dreaded what he would see when the door finally opened.<p>

He held his breath and waited, listening as the key turned in the lock and the door creaked open. The first sight as the door swung open was the idiot thug from earlier, this time his face was beaming wickedly and it only made Cougar's stomach drop further. Two of his colleagues shifted forward, Jensen suspended between them. They stepped to the doorway, hauled Jensen more upright and then threw him into the open space in the middle of the floor. It was easy to think he'd done nothing to break his fall, yet Cougar realized that in reality Jensen had twisted just enough to have avoided landing on his front or to have sustained any further damage in the fall. It was a reassurance, not much, but enough until the guards had gone and Cougar could check him over himself.

The first guard stepped in, eyes on Cougar, as he moved closer to Jensen. Cougar saw Jensen's fingers twitch, a sign for him to keep still to let whatever was about to happen take place. It took everything in him to not react as the guard drew back a steel capped boot and kicked Jensen viciously in the lower back. The grimace of pain that shot across Jensen's face was quickly shielded as he let his head roll further forward hiding his face. Cougar's fists clenched at his side as he vowed the fucker would pay for that.

The door swung shut a moment later and footsteps signalled the guards retreat. Cougar shot across the room ignoring his own injuries in the rush to get to Jensen. Carefully he reached out, laying gentle hands on his team mate and waiting for a signal before he rolled Jensen to his back. "Fuck, Cougs! Hurts!"

"Where?" Cougar demanded.

"Ssssh," Jensen gasped. "N-no – No English, dude . . . told 'em you didn't speak English . . . they won't come for you."

Cougar couldn't believe what he was hearing, "Idiota!"

"Yeah, totally." Jensen's voice hitched, but he tried to grin, blood dripping from his mouth. "If you get b-beat up too, how're you going to pull off the daring rescue . . . 'c-cause we k-kinda need one." Jensen's eyes closed for a moment. His breathing labored in and out painfully as Cougar checked him over. His eyes opened and tracked slowly to Cougar, anxiety clear along with the pain. "H-how bad?"

"Vas a vivir," Cougar said softly. "Rest though."

"Is this w-what they call taking one f-for the t-team?" Jensen rasped and tried to smile, clearly hoping to ease Cougar's worry but failing as the other man hushed him. Cougar's checks didn't reveal any obvious breaks, but Jensen was covered in a welter of bruising and shallow cuts, some of which were still seeping blood and Cougar didn't want to begin to imagine the damage that lay below some of the worst bruising. The guards had known how to target internal organs.

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><p>Jensen lay quietly, eyes tiredly tracking to Cougar and away, then closing for a few moments until Cougar would cough lightly and remind him that he wasn't supposed to be sleeping. "And you all say I'm the n-noisy one," Jensen muttered.<p>

"Ssshh," Cougar said, laying a hand on Jensen's head in comfort.

It was an age before Cougar's comms came to life with a hint of a buzz before he heard Clay's voice. "Report."

"Together, locked in, one man injured." Cougar kept his voice low.

"Mobile?"

Cougar looked at Jensen and knew the answer should be no, Jensen wasn't going anywhere under his own steam, but he also didn't have time to wait for a full assault to get them out. "We can manage," he said. The sigh from Clay indicated that he knew it for the lie it was. Cougar was just grateful he didn't choose to call him on it.

"Is there any chance of the two of you getting clear of the building?"

There were footsteps approaching before the conversation could go any further. With a quick, "Someone's coming!" Cougar snatched the comm unit from his ear and shoved it out of sight in his pocket. Jensen started to move and Cougar tried to hold him still.

The door swung open just as Jensen forced his knees under himself and started to make the next effort to stand.

"Want some more, little boy?" The guard in the doorway asked, just as Jensen lost his balance and staggered forward, falling into the guard causing him to stumble. One foot tangled with Jensen's arm and the guard began to topple over Jensen, heading for the floor.

In the ensuing confusion, Jensen managed to free a knife from the guard's boot, slashing across the back of the man's knee damaging his hamstring. With a howl the man fell to the floor over Jensen. With difficulty, Jensen tossed the knife to Cougar as a second guard came into the cell.

The guard on the floor was reaching for his gun, already bringing it to bear on Jensen who managed to get his hands up on to the guard's wrist so the gun flailed in the air, the first shot going off and impacting into the ceiling. It distracted the second guard enough that Cougar was able to throw the knife in a move that Roque would have been proud of as it impacted straight into the man's throat. Cougar dived forward, keeping his body low and arms outstretched to disarm the dying man. In seconds, he was back on his feet with a gun and a second knife, already taking out the third guard before ducking as plaster fell from the ceiling after another wild shot where Jensen still struggled with the first guard.

He wanted to help Jensen but reality was he needed to eliminate the other threats first. Every time the guards had come, there had been four of them. He stepped closer to the door, peering round cautiously to see the other guard already trying to retreat. He shot him in the back and turned his attention back to the struggle still going on behind him. A final shot and he was at Jensen's side, disentangling his exhausted teammate from a dead body.

It was the work of moments to gather up weapons from the fallen men, shoving one into Jensen's hand where he was now sat propped by the door. He grabbed the comm unit and put it back into his ear. "Clay! We're out but we can't move fast or far."

"On our way. Make for the surface and as soon as you can, give us some indication of where you are."

With a quick apology, Cougar hauled Jensen to his feet and began to move, heading away from the cell and the fallen guards, away from the direction they had come each time and hoping to find an exit. He tried to block out the awareness of Jensen's struggle to breathe, his difficulty in moving his feet and bearing any of his own weight. Cougar was determined he was getting them both out of there alive, even if it meant carrying Jensen out.

Five minutes later and they were at the base of a flight of steep stairs. Cougar had no idea whether these were the same ones they'd been brought in by, but they resembled them enough for him to take the risk. Jensen baulked. "Cougs . . . n-no! Can't . . . c-can't do it. Y-you go!" he panted.

Cougar felt like the biggest asshole on the planet when he pinned Jensen back against the wall and grabbed his chin so their eyes could meet. "You giving up? You're going to just die here in the ass end of nowhere like a pussy too weak to make a little effort? All because of a few stairs?" He saw as Jensen's eyes closed, defeat etched deep into his features.

"You want to kill us both?" he growled, hoping that Jensen would forgive him.

"N-no, just – just . . ." Cougar could hear every pained breath as if it were his own and wished there was an alternative . . . an acceptable alternative.

"Then move it, Corporal," he hissed, pulling Jensen's arm back over his own shoulder and shifting to take as much of Jensen's weight as he could, dragging the injured man back to the stairs and beginning to climb them, hauling Jensen upward one step at a time.

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><p>It felt like forever to make it up the flight of stairs, but Cougar didn't stop, didn't give up. He knew Jensen was barely conscious, his only chance at life now lying beyond the doors that he could see. He could hear gunfire and knew the rest of the team were on site. It was the only thing that kept him going.<p>

He made it to the doors, then contacted Clay, "About to break cover out of one of the stairwells. Can't tell where till we're out."

"We're here and ready. As soon as you can tell us, we're watching."

He braced himself with a few pained breaths of his own before unlocking the door and heading out.

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><p>The sound of gunfire, the glare of sunlight and burning buildings, the weight of Jensen . . . Cougar knew he was supposed to be getting his bearings, telling Clay exactly where they were but there was just so much pouring into his senses that he couldn't make out any useful data. His attention drawn back over and over again to Jensen as he realized he was moving from supporting Jensen to being the only thing keeping him from the ground.<p>

He wheezed through his own pain, feeling the pressure of ribs under too much strain, damage too great to keep going. He felt Jensen's weight shift away from him, turned to clutch at it, save Jensen even as hands grabbed at him.

"Cougar! Cougar! Stop! Roque's got him, Roque's got him. Come on, man, calm down. Let's get you both out of here." Cougar recognized the voice but it didn't make sense, couldn't process. All of a sudden a figure loomed large in front of him, Cougar tried to push it away, fight to get back to Jensen, until finally Clay's shout of "Cougar! Dammit! Look at me!" snapped him free of the confusion and he found him staring into the angry face of his commanding officer.

"At last! Come on," Clay dragged him across to the back of the truck that Roque was already pulling Jensen into. They were in and Pooch was flooring the gas as they sped away from the devastation behind them.

"Jensen. . ." Cougar started.

"Roque's got him. What about you? Where are you hurt, Cougar?" Clay demanded.

Cougar looked at him bemused. Clay repeated the question and Cougar shook his head, adding, "I'm fine."

"Like hell you are!" Clay snatched at his chin, forcing him to make eye contact and seeing the utter confusion there. "Shit!"

"I – I don't hurt," Cougar said again.

"You say that like it's a fucking good thing! Pooch, call for med-evac. They both need out of here."

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><p>Jensen was laid in bed, staring at the white of the ceiling, bored. It had taken some patching up to start the healing process and he was still confined to bed with one leg in traction. Confined to bed and bored, ready to claw out the eyes of anyone who set foot in his room.<p>

The rest of his team hadn't made it back yet, although nursing staff had assured him they were on their way. He was worried about Cougar, wondered if the team's sniper was okay. He'd been sure that Cougar's ribs were more than just bruised when they were first bundled into the cell . . . They'd been through a lot since then and he only had patchy memories of it all but he didn't think any of what he did remember would have helped Cougar.

There was movement outside his door and he turned his head dejectedly, ready to snap impatiently if that same nurse as before showed her face. Seriously what kind of medic was she if she thought that lying back and resting, taking it easy because there was nothing to worry about was any sort of advice to give a man whose team was still out there.

The door opened and there was Clay. Jensen felt as his breath rushed out of him in relief. Clay whole with barely a scratch or bruise to show for what they'd been through. "Hey kid," the Colonel greeted. "I heard you'd been causing the medics some trouble!" Jensen looked away biting his lip. "Jay, it's okay. The others will be here soon too. They're just getting Cougar fitted up with a wheelchair. Pooch is waiting to 'drive' him round and Roque is there to make sure they don't cause too much trouble."

"Cougar-" Jensen choked out.

"Hey, Cougs is fine. A couple of busted ribs is all. He told me what you did – you're an idiot, you know that?"

"He told me that before we got out."

"Well, he has a point. I'm glad you're gonna be okay, you're both gonna be okay. It might have been a dumbass move, but it worked." Noise in the corridor and fake brake screeching sounds signalled the arrival of the rest of the team as Pooch raced round the corner with Cougar in front of him in a wheelchair.

"Hey Jay!" Pooch greeted. "So I hear you came up with some more dumbass ways to get your ass kicked . . ."

Jensen grinned, "Something like that." He twisted round as much as he could trying to see Cougar. "You okay, man?"

"Si. You?"

"Better now."

Roque leant in the doorway, "Does that mean you're going to stop biting the heads off the pretty little nurses now?" Jensen flushed with embarrassment and looked away. "Thought so. So we got you candy, but then thought better of it. No way to burn off the sugar high, so I gave it to the nurses instead. Figured they'd deserve it for putting up with your pansy ass!"

Jensen pouted, but felt himelf relaxing anyway. His team was here, his team was safe and as he caught Cougar's eye again, he mouthed the word "Thank you", grinning as Cougar had been doing the same thing. Yeah, in truth, neither of them would have got out unless they'd worked together and Jensen could live with that.


End file.
